Demand for tickets to the Women’s Cricket World Cup final "has been so high" that Marylebone Cricket Club released more for public sale "in areas of the stadium usually reserved for its members." Before the tournament started, the Int'l Cricket Council sold 13,000 tickets for the final, which takes place at Lord’s on Sunday, "but demand has soared since the group stages" and all available tickets are "expected to be sold by the weekend." There will still be about 2,000 seats reserved for MCC members "but the rest of the stadium, about 26,000, will be for the general public" (LONDON TIMES, 7/17).
Football Federation Australia claimed it wanted the Socceroos to play Thailand at Suncorp Stadium until the Queensland government withdrew its bid to host the World Cup qualifier. The "blame game continues" after FFA’s confirmation over the weekend that the Sept. 5 match will take place at Melbourne's AAMI Park. The state government, via Tourism & Events Queensland, insisted an offer was made "in good faith" to host the Socceroos-Thailand match. But FFA said that the offer was taken off the table by TEQ due to "commercial" issues understood to include ground signage (Brisbane COURIER-MAIL, 7/17).
Afghanistan replaced Australia in a development tour of South Africa "after the latter pulled out due to a pay dispute" between its players and board. Australia's "A" team, captained by Usman Khawaja, was scheduled to play two four-day matches and a 50-over tri-series against India and South Africa on the tour. Afghanistan will now join South Africa and India for the series starting later this month (REUTERS, 7/17).
Kazan, Russia, and Budapest, Hungary, were awarded the rights to host the 2022 and 2024 FINA World Swimming Championships, respectively. Hong Kong and Taipei City, Taiwan, were the other two candidates (FINA).
